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London’s Congestion Charge – three years on

Posted: 27 September 2006 | Michèle Dix, Director of Congestion Charging, TfL | No comments yet

Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space make a financial contribution. It encourages the use of other modes of transport and is also intended to ensure that, for those who have to use the roads, journey times are quicker and more reliable.
Introduction

In May this year Norman Y Mineta, the US Government’s Transportation Secretary, published a national strategy to look at ways to tackle congestion across the whole of the United States. In it he said that “congestion is one of the single largest threats to our economic prosperity and way of life.”

Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space make a financial contribution. It encourages the use of other modes of transport and is also intended to ensure that, for those who have to use the roads, journey times are quicker and more reliable. Introduction In May this year Norman Y Mineta, the US Government’s Transportation Secretary, published a national strategy to look at ways to tackle congestion across the whole of the United States. In it he said that “congestion is one of the single largest threats to our economic prosperity and way of life.”

Congestion charging is a way of ensuring that those using valuable and congested road space make a financial contribution. It encourages the use of other modes of transport and is also intended to ensure that, for those who have to use the roads, journey times are quicker and more reliable.

Introduction

In May this year Norman Y Mineta, the US Government’s Transportation Secretary, published a national strategy to look at ways to tackle congestion across the whole of the United States. In it he said that “congestion is one of the single largest threats to our economic prosperity and way of life.”

Back in 2003, Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, took a similar view. At the time, traffic in London was grinding to a halt, our public transport system was unreliable and London was choking on the pollution caused by the congestion on our streets. That’s why the Mayor asked Transport for London (TfL) to take a radical step to do something about it. We introduced the congestion charge to the most central clogged-up part of the city.

Our aim was to cut congestion and raise funds to invest in London’s transport system and further reduce congestion across the network. The doubters, of which there were many, predicted chaos and confusion. They said there would be diversions into unsuitable areas and the public transport system would not cope and that the economy would suffer. Three years on it’s clear they were wrong.

Current scheme

The Mayor of London wanted to have a scheme up and running within his first four year term. To meet this ‘first-term’ timetable a system using proven technology was recommended. A network of automatic number plate recognition cameras, capable of reading vehicle number plates as vehicles entered or moved within the charging zone was designed. Vehicle number plates would be checked against a database of those vehicles for which a charge had been paid, or which were exempt from the charge. Vehicles for which no match is made would be liable to a penalty charge. Transport for London developed, tested and implemented this concept.

After a series of public consultations, the central London congestion charging scheme was introduced in February 2003.

The introduction of road user charging was regarded as a controversial policy and gained considerable local, national and international interest. There was a general consensus that ‘something ought to be done’; but there were also widespread concerns over the operational and other potential impacts of charging to bring a vehicle into central London. Although it only applied to a small area of London, encompassing just five percent of London’s road space, the charging zone area contains much of the main business, finance, law, political and entertainment districts.

Transport for London projected that the scheme would reduce congestion inside the zone during charging hours by 20 to 30% and that there would be little adverse consequences for traffic conditions around the boundary.

Effects of the scheme

There is now a substantial body of evidence on the impacts of congestion charging in central London. Transport for London produces an Annual Impacts Monitoring Report, which is available on its website.

Traffic patterns adapted quickly to the introduction of the original £5 scheme with vehicle movements entering the charging zone during charging hours reducing by 18% and congestion reducing by 30%. The main response of car drivers was to switch to public transport.

The assessment of traffic responses to the July 2005 charge increase, from £5 to £8, was initially complicated by the effects of the July 7 bombings in the first week of the increased charges. It is now clear, however, that the increased charge has produced further declines in chargeable traffic entering the charging zone.

Our Fourth Annual Monitoring Report, published in June this year, shows that traffic entering the zone during charging hours in 2005 was 21% lower than in 2002, before charging was introduced. It also shows that, by reducing traffic levels and congestion intensity, the scheme in 2005 had reduced vehicle emissions of Carbon Dioxide by 16, Nitrogen Oxide by 13% and Particulate Matter by 15%.

Future

The UK Government is considering the potential role of a national congestion charging or road pricing scheme and seeking to encourage debate and local initiatives. It has drawn considerably from the experience of the London scheme.

With any national charging scheme in the UK likely to be at least 10 years away, London still has an extensive congestion problem to overcome, despite the success of the central London scheme. It is estimated that perhaps 40% of congestion in the UK occurs within Greater London and it is projected to intensify if other priorities continue to use up effective road space or if public transport cannot cope with the additional travel demands arising from increasing employment and population.

In the immediate future the existing congestion charging zone will be enlarged to double its size with an extension into the western sector of central London. More effective cameras will be installed and the scope for future automatic detection of vehicles to facilitate account-based charging payments has been anticipated following successful Tag and Beacon trials. This scheme, using Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), would allow flexible pricing, tailored more precisely to traffic conditions in specific locations at different times of day and for different types of user. It would allow drivers to select to make payments automatically rather than having to pay in advance or take steps to notify the scheme themselves once they have driven in the zone.

These changes can only be enabled through the re-let of the congestion charging scheme in 2009. However, any change to the existing scheme would be subject to public consultation and approval by the Mayor.

We are increasingly aware of the role of charging to contribute to helping climate change. In July, the Mayor of London asked TfL to produce proposals to amend the central London congestion charging scheme so that it would discourage the use of cars producing high levels of carbon dioxide emissions, a main contributor to climate change. The potential changes could involve discounts on the existing £8 daily charge for vehicles with low emissions of carbon dioxide, and substantially higher charges for vehicles with higher rates.

The Mayor has stated he would like the new discounts for low emission vehicles to come into effect from 2008, with subsequent higher charges higher emitting vehicles to be introduced as part of the re-let process.

Conclusion

In the transport realm, London has historically led the way in providing groundbreaking solutions to public transport demand. In 1863, we opened the world’s first Underground railway, which has been replicated in other major cities across the globe. And five years later, we installed the world’s first traffic lights outside the Houses of Parliament to control the increasing number of vehicles.

Congestion charging in central London has also been groundbreaking. We introduced a dynamic transport solution to meet the need of a growing city and challenge the perception that ‘gridlock’ on London’s roads was a way of life. The early evidence in the Capital is positive but we know that while many transport authorities throughout the world monitor the progress of the scheme, we cannot stand still. Our policy direction must mirror advances in technology to ensure that the benefits of road user charging are maintained for many years to come.

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